An inordinate focus on two words – warm and patient – was in the news this week.
The first involved the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister. When U.S. president Barack Obama called to congratulate Netanyahu, apparently two days after he was elected, reporters wanted to know if it had been a “warm” conversation. It likely was not, given the current relationship between the two countries.
Want to know how much Obama gets paid to make these phone calls (and how much other world leaders make)?
The word patient was used, or over-used, in reference to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and the reserve’s use of the word patient in previous policy statements. Would it or would it not remove the word ‘patient’ in its latest report. Impatient to find out? As of Wednesday it was gone, but it doesn’t mean the Reserve is going to be impatient, Yellen said.
Speaking of impatience, builders in China have completed a building in just 19 days. A highrise building. Fifty-seven storeys high. Apparently it can withstand a magnitude nine earthquake.
It probably took a lot longer to build the European Central Bank’s new $1.4 billion tower, which led to a massive protest this week.
In other news, Russian president Vladimir Putin (who apparently only makes $136,000 US after taking a 10% pay cut) reappeared after a 10-day absence. Rumours of illness abounded. But one rumour – that he was away for the birth of his child – may actually improve his likeability by making him seem more normal, so at least one writer believes.
Two other stories about people that have disappeared and come back: the Globe and Mail talked to former Alberta premier Alison Redford for three hours who, in the end, didn’t say much of anything that would shed light on her downfall. And former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave an 18-minute TED talk called The Price of Shame that said a lot more. It reminded me of one of the theme’s in last week’s blog – the public shaming of today.
